Definition: AFDC or Aid to Families with Dependent Children is a United States welfare system that provided assistance to support children who had lost one or both parents to death, disability, abandonment, etc.
Payment was to the person with custody of the child.
Usually single mothers were recipients of AFDC payments. The presence of any adult male in such a household could threaten the continuance of the aid.
Critics have pointed out that the structure of the AFDC program discouraged stable family relationships by prohibiting the presence in the home of any employed or employable adult male, and thus helped lead to the "feminization of poverty."
The AFDC program effectively ended under welfare reforms during the presidency of Bill Clinton.
Also Known As: ADC - Aid to Dependent Children
